3D Printing News – 3D Printing With Liquid Breakthrough

The most common types of 3D printing involve either extruding melted plastic or using a laser to solidify tiny particles, layer by layer, to slowly build up a solid object. But researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found a way to radically change that process by 3D printing liquids inside other liquids—and it could mean major advancements. Imagine having the power of chemistry combined with 3D Printing!

The printer itself is an off-the-shelf model that the researchers were able to modify by replacing the extruder with a syringe pump feeding a very fine needle that squirts water instead of molten plastic. The machine was then re-programmed to create three-dimensional patterns, as many 3D printers typically only make two-dimensional movements as they build up each layer of a model. This is a game changer. Read the full article here